Trade show season for the outdoor industry has been in full effect! From Las Vegas to Nashville and Texas to Pennsylvania, there have been events all over the United States in the past several months.

If you ask most retailers that are working at these shows, their feet are getting worn out and they really just want to sleep in their own beds, at home, for at least five nights in a row.

But ask the consumer and they are ready for more!

he time period between the end of deer and duck season but before turkey season is a somber time for most hunters. The winter weather has our outdoor lives moving at a snails pace and we are eager for the slightly warmer temperatures that we know turkey season will bring.

The timing couldn't be better for events such as the Great American Outdoor Show and the National Wild Turkey Federation Convention like Adrian and I just attended.

These shows are an opportunity to see what new products are hitting the market as well as catch up with old friends and hear their new stories from this past hunting season.

In fact, one attendee we talked with actually stated his favorite part was that it felt "like a family reunion." He loved hearing the hunting stories from old friends and getting to share his adventures as well.

We were blessed with the opportunity to meet several new friends as well as reminisce with others. These connections are one thing that really amazes me about the hunting and outdoor industry.

Even while talking with new friends at one booth, it wasn't unusual for old friends to come up and say hello. Those connections we make truly are some of the best parts of life.

Another thing that really seems to make life and friendships better is a common devotion to hunting and the outdoors. A good friend of mine keeps telling me, "Keep doing what you love with passion and it won't fail!"

That passion is easy to see across the hunting industry.

We had the opportunity to talk with Paige and Jeff, from Hawke Optics, about their new Vantage IR Turkey Dot Reticle scope. His passion for designing and implementing this new scope shined each time we talked. His technical knowledge about the design and top-notch materials may have only been overshadowed by the turkey hunting stories he told that led to the design of this scope.

Each part of this scope was designed to solve specific problems many of us have had in the turkey woods.

Another passionate designer is Pat Newcomb of the Nuk 'em Hunting Blinds. Pat has a great product that we are going to be reviewing while in the turkey woods this spring.

If you haven't seen this awesome "Run and Gun" style hunting blind, you need to check them out!

It can be easily used in almost any hunting situation, whether packing up fast to reposition on a troublesome gobbler or sitting on the edge of a field awaiting that pack of hens to drag the old Tom by your position.

This same passion that proves to bring about the innovation of new products also drives conservation of the hunting tradition.

From new land management techniques and advice to introducing first time hunters to the sport we love, it was all available at these trade shows. This especially was evident at the NWTF Convention. There were multiple seminars throughout the three day period to teach different calling methods as well as hunting strategies in general.

If you wanted to learn, the information was readily available to soak up.

And of course, any time deer, elk, and turkey hunters get together, there is no shortage of story telling time! Tales of encounters with suspenseful endings, just knowing that surely they had taken down their prey this time. We eagerly awaited the ending of the story so we could see the picture that brought the whole story together.

As outdoors men/women, we are passionate. That was clearly evident to us at both of the trade shows we attended. That passion will continue to fuel our fire this turkey season. It will get us out of bed before the sun even thinks about rising and it will keep us searching for that next gobbler. If he's not sounding off today, he will be gobbling somewhere tomorrow, it's up to us to find him!

We hope that you have a safe and successful upcoming turkey season. And, if you haven't had the chance to attend an outdoor industry show, there are still several left! Look them up and find one close, you won't regret it.

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